Running with the Giants - Moses

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Story of running a race… I didn’t do too good because I had not gotten rid of some things… eating wrong foods…

To run the race we are running, we have to get rid of some things so we can be as effective as we need to be...

So we are running the race and Moses is coming out of the crowd today… what would he say

When your problems overwhelm you...

abandon safe and live by faith

Moses had the opportunity to play it safe. He grew up in the house of Pharoah, the king of Egypt. Had he remained in Egypt, he would have been Pharoah. He was raised as Pharaoh’s son. He had the opportunity to play it safe.

He finds himself in the desert, living a good life with a wife and kids and a job, but again, he di dnot play it safe by staying there… the followed what God wanted him to do.

So I think Moses would say to us… abandon safe and live by faith. (repeat)

Exodus 3:1–5 NIV84

1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” 4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” 5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

Horeb - Sanai

Angel of the Lord - Jesus before the incarnation.

Take off sandals - walk in humility.

Exodus 3:7 NIV84

7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.

Exodus 3:10 NIV84

10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

Moses is facing this problem. God has called hi to go and do what God called him to do years ago.

The calling of God is without repentance. Rom 11:29 It means you can run but you can’t hide.

Why do we want to abandon safe?

Living Safe will keep you

1. Trapped in the past.

The past will keep us chained to out past like being chained to a boulder.

Some of you are trapped by something that happened in your past. You don’t have to stay that way. Jesus came to break the chains from our lives.

He came to turn our wounds into scars. Wounds are alive. Scars are a record of what we have been through in life.

The enemy of your soul tries to convince you that your scars are really wounds…

Isaiah 43:18–19 The Message

18 “Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history. 19 Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it? There it is! I’m making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands.

You don’t have to be chained to the past!

The enemy tried to do that with Moses and God delivered him and he will deliver you.

If he can’t get you trapped with the past, he will try to get you to be...

2. Satisfied with today.

Today is good… we are happy with life, career, jobs… If you have experienced freedom and you get comfortable. You become complacent… and quit learning.

You can amass knowledge, but not really learn. You have to change to learn...

Moses life in Pharoah’s house was pretty comfortable...

Exodus 2:11 NIV84

11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.

This wasn’t the first time Moses saw this, but something had changed inside him. It’s a holy discontent.

We need to always be just a little discontented with the things we see.

We can’t continue to allow kids to languish in homes without parents… allow kidnapping and selling of kids in human trafficking… We can’t continue to look at our city, our country and be satisfied with the slid towards a totally immoral culture.

We need to develop a holy discontent.

If Satan can’t keep us here, he will make us...

3. Afraid of tomorrow.

Satan will keep you afraid of tomorrow … To keep you from what God has for you.

Something that God has for you to do is bigger than your capacity.

I Imagine that when Moses was called by God that he didn’t say, I’ve already tried that and it didin’t work. I am not the guy.

Exodus 4:13 NIV84

13 But Moses said, “O Lord, please send someone else to do it.”

Jesus even said this in the Garden… Father if there is any way....

Safe is that place where we feel sort of comfortable. we prepare to bungee jump but don’t... we pay to jump put of a plane but don’t…

Safe is the place where you want to make a difference for the kids in my school, but you are afraid to step out.

Safe is the place where you want your marriage to be better, but you are afraid to step out

Some of you need to take the step. You are afraid of what tomorrow holds, but you need to step out.

To abandon safe, we have to live by faith.

Moses Final Words of Encouragement

To live by faith, recognize that God is already at work in you.

You need to understand that God is already working with you.

You have have forgotten the past, become Holy discontented with today, we are not afraid of tomorrow and now we are stepping out. but our confidence is that the Lord is already here. He did not go get a potato chip and come back and all this stuff has gone on in your life.

There is no one here that’s here by accident. He has planned it out to use today for your benefit.

Hebrews 11:23 NLT

23 It was by faith that Moses’ parents hid him for three months when he was born. They saw that God had given them an unusual child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king’s command.

You have to understand that God is working on your behalf.

Supernatural - anything that God can do for you and I that we cannot do for ourselves.

Many are afraid to take that step of faith because they don’t know if God is going to go with them. God doesn’t go with us, He is already there. He knows your future… and if we just walk with him, it will be amazing.

I don’t want to live safe. I want to live by faith. Believe for the supernatural...

crime rate go down… because the HS is squelching the spirit of death and anger...

divorce rate go down

people that don’t know him - to know him

people who are sick be healed

To do this, we have to understand that God is already at work.

To live by faith, refuse to be defined by anything but God.

Hebrews 11:24–27 NIV84

24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.

If we are going to live by faith, we have to refuse to wear any labels that are put on us by anyone other than the Lord. Some of you are wearing labels that say you are just like… you are … you will never amount to anything…

You have to refuse to wear those labels. When you are In Christ, you have become a child of God.

Moses refused to be known as the son of Pharoah, but to be known as a child of God.

Jesus was labeled as the son of a carpenter…Nazareth…

Noah - no one had ever seen a boat or rain… what is he building

David - what can you do about a giant our entire army cannot defeat -

Joshua and Caleb - others said we can’t do...

Peter - a little girl that accused him of being a disciple and Peter denied Jesus

Prostitute caught in adultery that did not feel forgivable.

What labels are people trying to put on you? is it that you are only as valuable as your performance? In the name and by the power of Jesus, refuse to wear those labels.

Allow God to say things over you and believe them as true. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the WOG.

Maybe when something goes wrong, instead of saying I’m so stupid, say … Blessed of the Lord. Instead of calling others names, we need to call them what God calls them. That guy is loved by God… God wants to use that person.

Refuse to wear those labels.

To live by faith impacts others around you.

Hebrews 11:28–29 NLT

28 It was by faith that Moses commanded the people of Israel to keep the Passover and to sprinkle blood on the doorposts so that the angel of death would not kill their firstborn sons. 29 It was by faith that the people of Israel went right through the Red Sea as though they were on dry ground. But when the Egyptians tried to follow, they were all drowned.

There is something you are called to do thats going to change the eternity and history of someone else. If you will be obedient, if will change the history and eternity of someone.

How could Moses have known that not only would he impact the Israelites, but us today. He didn’t, but God did.

Your act of obedience will change the eternity and destiny of someone.

Some of you are at the edge of the sea, and you need to step out so the sea will part.

Abandon safe and life by faith. There is something God wants you to do that will change your future and the future of others.

Pray -

Looking over the Edge at something scary… God is with you. You don’t have to be afraid, but you have to step out. Let them know you are here and will always be here. Show us the next step and then the next step as we take the journey to live supernaturally.

Salvation - Maybe you just don’t know him. or that relationship has become weak and stale… You would say, I need to connect withe Jesus… raise your hands.